Parts of the Carl DeBrodie civil suit are on hold while defendants face criminal trials.
On Aug. 27, Missouri Western District Judge Douglas Harpool granted a motion to stay proceedings for Sherry Paulo and Anthony Flores, defendants in the civil and criminal cases.
The civil suit was initially filed Jan. 23 by the mother of DeBrodie, a 31-year-old man who lived at Second Chance Homes of Fulton. Police said he was dead for months before his disappearance was reported and his body found in a Fulton storage unit.
Paulo, Flores and other Second Chance employees were among those named in the civil suit, along with many others in the hierarchy responsible for DeBrodie's care. The civil suit claims DeBrodie was made to perform physical labor for Second Chance employees and was denied vital medical attention, leading to his death.
Five people connected to Second Chance - including Paulo and Flores - were arrested and charged in early June.
Paulo has been criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter, felony neglect, felony abandonment of a corpse and two misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a missing person. Flores faces identical charges.
"Paulo and Flores request a stay because they believe their civil and criminal proceedings to be so interrelated that they will be unable to protect themselves in their civil proceedings without prejudicing themselves in their criminal proceedings," Harpool wrote in his Aug. 27 order.
The plaintiffs argued that a stay would be prejudicial in their own case.
Harpool decided Paulo and Flores do not need to respond to any discovery requests in the civil suit until Jan. 1 or until the final disposition of their criminal proceedings, whichever comes first. Discovery among other parties should proceed, he said.
Missouri Case.net doesn't list a scheduled trial for Paulo's criminal case, though a case setting was slated for Monday. Flores' trial is scheduled for Nov. 26 at the Callaway County Courthouse.